How many Foreign National Prisoners are in the EU?

Key Takeaways

• In 2024, 21.4% of prisoners across EU member states with available data held foreign citizenship in the reporting country. The share rose from 20.7% in 2023.
• Luxembourg records the highest share among EU member states with available data at 75.8%. As of January 2024, 47.3% of Luxembourg’s residents held foreign nationality. The prison figure reflects that demographic composition directly.
• All eight EU countries reporting foreign prisoner shares below 10% sit in Central or Eastern Europe.
• Romania (1.1%), Bulgaria (3.2%), and Poland (3.7%) record the three lowest shares among EU member states with available data.
• Luxembourg ranks first among EU member states in both foreign residents and foreign prisoners. It is the clearest example of how a country’s migrant population shapes its prison composition.

Foreign Nationals as a Share of Total Prison Population

Stay tuned!

Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

Stay tuned!

Learn something new about Germany every week and make informed decisions with confidence.

In 2024, 21.4% of prisoners across EU countries held foreign citizenship in the country where they were incarcerated. That share rose from 20.7% the year before. Behind the average is a range that runs from 75.8% in Luxembourg to 1.1% in Romania.

Eight Countries Reporting Under 10% All Sit in Central or Eastern Europe

Eight EU countries report foreign prisoner shares below 10%. All of them sit in Central or Eastern Europe.

• Romania: 1.1%
• Bulgaria: 3.2%
• Lithuania: 3.7%
• Poland: 3.7%
• Hungary: 4.1%
• Slovakia: 4.6%
• Latvia: 5.2%
• Czechia: 8.2%

Meanwhile, Western and Southern European countries report consistently higher shares.

• France: 24.7%
• Spain: 32.7%
• Italy: 32.0%
• Belgium: 45.4%.

The geographic distribution broadly mirrors European demographic trends since the early 2000s. Western European countries have seen immigration-fuelled population growth. Eastern European nations have faced population decline through emigration.

Luxembourg’s 75.8% Reflects Its Population, Not a Criminal Justice Anomaly

Five EU countries report that foreign nationals make up more than half of their prison population:

• Luxembourg: 75.8%
• Cyprus: 54.0%
• Austria: 53.0%
• Malta: 52.4%
• Greece: 52.0%

Luxembourg ranks 21.8 percentage points above Cyprus, the next highest. That gap reflects Luxembourg’s demographics more than its prison system. As of January 2024, 47.3% of Luxembourg’s residents held foreign nationality. Luxembourg has the highest share of foreign nationals among EU member states. Its prison population follows the same distribution.

Malta (365 foreign prisoners) and Cyprus (521) each rest on a narrow base. A shift of 50 prisoners moves Malta’s share by 3 percentage points. Slovenia sits just below the 50% threshold at 48.2%, with 870 foreign prisoners and a similarly small base. Austria (5,121 foreign prisoners) and Greece (5,973) rest on larger counts and are less sensitive to this effect.

The geographic split in the data mirrors migration patterns more than criminal justice enforcement. Countries with large foreign-resident populations record high shares. Countries with few foreign residents record low ones.